Tiny synth to go with OT?

Supercolor_T-120 · 2022-08-02T13:50:51.782Z

All of the recent Behringer stuff I’ve gotten to try is pretty good, definitely worth considering but most people online are too cool to admit it.

If a mono synth works for you, I’d take a good look at the Behringer Neutron. A friend of mine has one and it sons great and has a LOT of patching options.

If you can afford a bit more and want somthing that’s modular but self contained, The Kilpatrick Phenol is really underappreciated. It was discontinued recently but they’re still easy to find. Not many good demos of it online, but it’s a really nice sounding synth, the stereo line in would work really well with the Octatrack, it has really stable oscillators, nice (and unique sounding) filters, and I actually really like the digital delay (it’s very lo-fi by design and some people don’t like that but it sounds great to me, completely unlike anything the Octatrack’s delay can do so they complement each other well). Plus BANANA JACKS and a halfway decent layout, which already puts it above 90% of Eurorack modules I’ve tried or owned. It has enough modules in it that you can easily use half of it as a simple, MIDI controlled, one oscillator monosynth and still have all the building blocks for an entire second monosynth (only one channel of MIDI to CV, though, so youunfortunately can’t patch p two independent mono synths with MIDI control, and also there’s only one LFO, but it’s still very usable for melody+abstract space noises). I’ve been using it in a mixer feedback loop lately and that works well.

If you’re mainly looking for a synth to play sequenced melodies I wouldnt’ recommend it, but if you want something that can get into weirder modular territory (an sample material for the OT), be a solid monosynth, or do a bit of both at the same time, all I can say is I chose it over the 0-coast 4 years ago and never had any regrets about the choice. Plus the fact that it’s underappreciated and has distinctive sounding filters helps make it stand out from the crowd.

It’s not the best value-for-money synth out there (that would be the Behringer stuff easily, if we’re sticking to analog - there are a lot of nice digital synths in the sub $300 zone) but nothing I’m aware of sounds like (or has envelopes like) a Phenol and if the Dreadbox stuff is in your price range you should definitely consider a Phenol.

BassesAndPads · 2022-08-02T15:04:15.993Z

I paired with the OT and it’s great. In the case of the Td3 I prefer programming it on the TD3 and not the OT even though both can be done. So I just sync it to the OT and then sample loops off of it that way. That said, I really want to try using the OT Arp on the TD3 just to see what happens.

Also spent time with the O-Coast and wow, talk about a great match with the OT. I sent OT arps into it and it was really, really nice. And this was basically the startup patch on the O-coast running back into the OT through Dark Reverb. I just reset the 0-coast to it’s initial state, fine tuned the tone a little and let it play.

sezare56 · 2022-08-02T16:17:55.551Z

license:

Funny thing is, this works a lot better with the Model:Samples than the OT.

Because of pitch up range?

Workaround : use chromatic slices of single cycles waveforms. You can also do wavetables.

license · 2022-08-02T16:34:30.732Z

Yes, that and the fact that slices/lengths are in 120ths instead of 128ths or 64ths, so that you can derive overtones from them. For example, you can get 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th harmonics by using lengths of 40, 30, 24, and 20, respectively. This can be useful for creating chords, harmonies, and other just intonation tricks similar to the Monomachine’s ensemble machines, and can be fun with LFO modulation.

license · 2022-08-02T16:43:22.704Z

Also I don’t mean to bogart this thread but it’s good to see the 0-Coast getting more love. Here’s an example of what you can do with just 0-Coast and OT (nothing else used here - EDIT: jk, I forgot I used the Thyme to make the hats sound more like hats):

weeklybeats.com

Flyover 2020-07-18

The 0-Coast I ordered in May finally came several weeks after I filled the hole it left in my yearning black heart with my first litter of eurorack modules. So much for the depth year, HA! I'll be lazy and blame COVID-19, lazy is the theme of the...

BassesAndPads · 2022-08-02T17:37:08.923Z

It’s just such a good pairing. Pretty known video with Digitakt in it, but this guy just grabs one shots and snippets from loops he makes on the 0-coast and it sounds awesome. The OT just takes it to another level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DqWYJ0l9xA&list=PLEaFHZbRTP74EhvtOjwfwswPUxRsjiDEP&index=6

lopodyr · 2022-08-02T18:27:27.997Z

bibenu:

Just realised there is of course a lot of overlap with this thread

Sure, there is! The reason I wanted to start a new conversation was to focus on just synths (the other thread has some grooveboxes and other gear) and focus on beloved sound machines, regardless of their looks (the other thread is a lot about tiny and/or beautiful machines, not all of them being anyone’s recommendation).

Ultimately, you are right, it is still similar, my apologies

SkinnyWhiteBoy:

You could just download adventurekids single cycle waveforms, and use the Octatrack as a synth.

@SkinnyWhiteBoy I do this! And I love it! I just find that it is great for plucks and basslines, but gets old fast for chords. Copying and pasting pages on 4 tracks everytime you tweak something is suboptimal.

@Supercolor_T-120 thanks for the detailed recommendations! They look and sound great (love the design on the Phenol), but I guess they are all too big for me. I was really looking for a synth that fits in a backpack, or better yet, a pocket! An emergency synth if you will, that can still provide polyphony and midi.

For anyone interested, I picked up a used Modal Skulpt SE which should be coming very soon. I chose it for polyphony, low price, nice sound (good VA, cannot hurt in my book) and relatively small footprint… though I would have preferred it without the keyboard and the battery compartment to make it even smaller haha.

Thanks everyone for the recommendations and the cool tips for using the OT with synths. You rock again, Elektronauts.

Supercolor_T-120 · 2022-08-02T19:19:26.621Z

Just to be clear, are you talking about using length to generate overtones from a single cycle waveform (which would also truncate the actual waveform itself, so the timbre would be different for every overtone) or a longer sample with the correct number of cycles that changing the length to values corresponding to overtones would make it loop at a zero crossing so the timbre didn’t change?

Both sound really useful, I’m just curious which approach you’re taking, or if there’s another I haven’t thought of. Either way, it’ssomething I never thought of trying.

Thinking about it now, I’ve also never used retrigger on a single cycle waveform as a sort of crude oscillator sync (the retrigger would be the period of the second oscillator that the single cycle waveform would be kind of syncing to), but I don’t want to derail the thread any more.

license · 2022-08-02T19:43:24.980Z

That’s part of the beauty of it - both approaches should work

Supercolor_T-120 · 2022-08-02T20:11:20.331Z

Yes, I was just curious which you used.

bibenu · 2022-08-02T21:51:58.809Z

lopodyr:

my apologies

No criticism intended, there are unique items in both threads I think.

Noi · 2022-08-04T06:07:19.254Z

For travelling, I would suggest an Ipad with Moog Model D and Animoog apps. They are cheap (you can grab and old Ipad for this duty), flexible, and have amazing sound. There are also many other great synth apps to play with, although Moog apps are my favourite.

topo_explo · 2022-08-04T13:32:05.691Z

lopodyr:

the Blofeld looks like a great option, especially because of its features for the price. However, I would indeed like something smaller, as I’m mostly looking for something for when I’m not using my main synth, when travelling

The Blofeld module is actually relatively small. You wouldn’t be able to fit it in you pocket of course, but it’s has a narrow slender metal body that fits comfortably in a small backpack. It’s also very deep (it’s a sound-designers dream) and because it’s multi timbral, it pairs perfectly with the Octatrack.

lopodyr · 2022-08-04T14:01:47.234Z

Edit for simplification: it was more expensive than what I wanted to spend on a secondary synth. If I end up loving this workflow though, I hope to put my hands on one in the future. It seems great!

levitatingcoffin666 · 2022-08-04T14:08:11.847Z

that new Roland j6 mini synth looks pretty cool

OverneathTheSkybridge · 2022-08-04T17:55:58.912Z

I think the Microfreak would be a good portable companion to the OT. Lots of oscillator and modulation options, presets amd cool sequencing options.

reeloy · 2022-08-04T18:04:45.428Z

…first thing that comes to mind, checking all ur boxes…

korgs nu tek ns1…
or the micromonsta…
both with a tiny diy factor…but with great nerd comunities in their back that exchange lot’s of how to and preset creations…

Supercolor_T-120 · 2022-08-04T20:23:07.608Z

Micromonsta still seems like the best choice to me.

mrcrappypantson · 2022-08-04T20:39:46.014Z

JD-08
D-05
0coast
Strega
Virus Snow
Digitone

russv · 2022-08-07T22:43:45.404Z

I just got a PreenFM2, couple days in, it is an amazing OT companion